


His Greatest Creation

by puzzlingnerd57



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, He's not a total jerk okay, Headcanon, Howard Stark's Good Parenting, Infinity Gems, Iron Man 2 References, Medical Conditions, Minor connection but no spoilers, No Spoilers for Infinity War, Pregnancy, Set right after Howard made the video for Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:32:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14458182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puzzlingnerd57/pseuds/puzzlingnerd57
Summary: Howard sighed as the camera turned off. His greatest creation? Why did he say that? Truth or not, what he just said was dangerous. If anyone other than his son would see this tape, it would put Tony at risk. Thinking about his son had him looking back at the table, where his city of the future was laid out. He was limited to the technology he had. His son wouldn’t be. And maybe, once Tony was older, he could tell him the truth.





	His Greatest Creation

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know this isn’t true. It has been proven false. But ever since we learned about the Infinity Stones, Howard Stark’s work with the Tesseract, and what each of the stones is, something has bothered me. Why would Howard Stark call Tony his greatest creation, especially when he had been talking about technology not even 30 seconds previously? Then, this little gem (no pun intended) was born in my mind. If you’re still confused, well, read on. I’ll explain the headcanon at the end. 
> 
> Also, this is a canon-divergence. I know Infinity War just premiered today in the US but don’t worry. While the canon-divergent nature of this story can be linked to Infinity War, it’s not obvious enough to be considered a spoiler of any kind. If anything, it’s divergent from, well… all of Tony’s life. Just… there aren’t any spoilers in here unless you haven’t gotten past Phase 1, in which case, what are you doing? You do realize Phase 3 is almost done right?
> 
> Anyways, let the story begin. This is what happens when you’re sleep deprived and finals panicked, but reading more fanfiction and watching more Youtube than you are studying.

Howard sighed as the camera turned off. His greatest creation? Why did he say that? Truth or not, what he just said was dangerous. If anyone other than his son would see this tape, it would put Tony at risk. Thinking about his son had him looking back at the table, where his city of the future was laid out. He was limited to the technology he had. His son wouldn’t be. And maybe, once Tony was older, he could tell him the truth.

He picked up a glass of water from the table nearby and took a long drink as he thought about Tony. When he met Maria, it was one of the happiest moments of his life. Here was a woman, unlike any other, who was unafraid to call him on his crap, put him in his place, and then remind him how much she cared. In a way, she was much like Peggy, dear Peggy, who never quite recovered from losing Steve, who waited by the phone each time he left for an expedition, hoping for news. Unlike Peggy though, Maria wasn’t afraid to be soft, to let her emotions shine through. Their wedding day, so vivid in his memory, all white and gold and beauty and light, made him look to the future, not for his company, but for him. He could have a family, children. 

Then, Maria fell ill. She complained of pelvic pain, back pain, pressure on her lower abdomen. Doctors called it a fibroid tumor. Non-cancerous, they assured her, but it would make having a child very difficult. There was a high chance, they warned, that a pregnancy wouldn’t last to term, and should it last to term, could possibly kill the infant and damage the uterus further. It would be best, they determined, if she stopped taking contraceptives, and possible abstain from sexual activity, all for her safety.

Howard was devastated. He might not have always dreamt of a family, but now, he wouldn’t have the chance to experience it. For days, he cried, raged and sulked, refusing to believe it to be true. I’m sorry, Maria would say, there is still a chance. We could adopt, she suggested, give an unwanted child a home. No matter what his wife said, no matter how much he wanted a child, he didn’t want to adopt. He had nothing against adoption, but rather he wanted to raise a child from day one. He wanted to be there for the child’s first steps, first words, first day of school. He wanted to take countless pictures of milestones, childproof his house and his workshop. He wanted to take days off of work to be with his son or daughter, whether they were sick or he just felt like it. He wanted to be the one to introduce the child to the world.

He left a few weeks after for another expedition. Maria encouraged it, for once, saying it would be good for him to get out, put himself back into the world. He didn’t expect anything though. What he did find, he knew would change everything. A glowing blue cube, radiating energy unlike anything he had ever seen. No S.S.R. or SHIELD scientist could tell him what it was.   
In all the excitement of finding the cube, now titled the hyper-cube, no one noticed Howard looking in the debris nearby. No one noticed as he pulled out a small orange gem. No one saw how he pocketed the stone. No one knew he found anything else. He was just looking, he claimed, trying to see if the debris belonged to the Valkyrie. It wasn’t, he declared, just some other metal scrap. Nothing worth recovering.

The small orange stone sat in his breast pocket the entire way back to America. No sensors picked up any odd energy, despite it clearly not being from Earth. Instead, it seemed like nothing more than a rock, a random trinket picked up to show his wife. 

When he got home, it pulsed with warmth, as if to say it was home too. He thought nothing of it. It had been in his pocket a while, of course it was warm. He brought it down to his workshop, and was about to start scanning it, when something stopped him. 

That something was his wife, bursting in, tears streaming down her face. I’m pregnant, she sobbed, you’re going to be a father. Howard froze in shock. His mind whispered about the dangers, how much of a risk it was. At the same time though, he was elated. The doctors had been wrong, the tumor didn’t cause her any problems, he was going to be a father. The couple clung to each other, the orange stone forgotten on a workbench.

It wasn’t an easy pregnancy, by any means. It wasn’t the tumor, it was simply more exaggerated difficulties than normal. Longer bouts of morning sickness, more severe diabetes, all things that could be handled with care. The orange gem was largely left alone, occasionally brought in Howard’s pocket to one of Maria’s appointments, but left in the workshop most of the time.

Maria carried to term, and when the day of birth arrived, it was unexpected and chaotic. In the rush to get his wife to the hospital where she would deliver, something stopped Howard. On a whim, he grabbed the small orange gem and tucked it into his breast pocket before running out the door.

The delivery went as smoothly as it could have, and little Anthony Edward Stark was brought into the world. As the doctors left however, things began to go wrong. While Maria held the child, she felt the heartbeat start to disappear. She cried out in fear, and Howard raced to her side. He frantically looked around the room, looking for someone to help, when it happened.

The stone, the one he had grabbed impulsively on his way out and tucked in his pocket, began to glow and warm. He stopped and gently pulled it out of his pocket, examining it even as he was aware of his wife behind him. He knew it was risky, but maybe…

He rushed back to his wife and gently held the stone out. It heated up more, the glow becoming more intense before it began to hover over his hand. He and Maria stared at the gem that was now floating over their still son. Awed, they watched as the gem slowly shifted and moved, sinking gently into their son’s chest. The glow brightened as it sank fully into the baby’s chest before fading completely. To the couple’s shock, their son let out a piercing cry and proceeded to whine and sob. 

Howard stared at his son, his child, his legacy as he processed what had happened. That gem, the small stone that resonated with untraceable energy so similar to the hyper-cube had saved his son’s life, no had become the source of his son’s life. Exchanging looks with his wife, he vowed never to tell anyone what had happened. He would warn Jarvis and Ana, in case this could cause trouble, but he knew they would never tell another soul.

He would never let anyone know what happened. Why did it matter how it happened or why? That stone, that little orange gem, found by pure accident had saved his only child. 

That little orange gem had become his son’s heart. And Howard vowed that he would protect his son, no matter what, protect the soul that had been saved by something he couldn’t explain. One day, he promised, he would explain to Tony what had occurred on the day of his birth. One day, once he knew more, he would tell his son everything.

And maybe once he knew more and had told his son, well technology was evolving. Perhaps they could save someone else’s child, the way that Howard knew Tony had been saved.

**Author's Note:**

> So, from the moment the Thanos thing with the stones was revealed, everyone was guessing what the H was. The most popular theory was it was Heimdall’s eyes, because, duh, all seeing Asgardian who could track any soul. Then Black Panther came out and brought the idea that maybe, it wasn’t Heimdall, but the heart shaped herb from Wakanda. I didn’t really believe those theories too much. I mean, would they have left an Infinity stone undiscovered for so long? Well, yeah, but still. The first theory was too obvious, and the second one didn’t make that much sense. 
> 
> Here is/was my headcanon: The H stands for Heart. Specifically, Tony Stark’s heart. Why? Well, Loki couldn’t control him with the mind gem, and sure, maybe the Arc Reactor was involved, but what if it was more than that? If the gems were designed to be used as a set, it would make sense if they couldn’t be used against each other. Therefore, since Tony’s heart is the soul gem, then the mind gem couldn’t be used to control it.
> 
> What about Wanda’s powers then? Her powers may have been from the mind gem, but they were twisted and corrupted by Hydra’s experiments. It wasn’t the mind gem at the core. 
> 
> Call me crazy for writing this the day Infinity War came out, but I don’t care. I don’t like posting anything about headcanons until I know they aren’t true or until there is proof that they might not be true. Then it’s a canon divergence and no one can get upset over “spoilers” or OOC or stuff like that. Personal preference, but hey, it’s fanfiction for a reason.


End file.
